India, the world’s largest arms importer in 2011 according
to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, has at
least doubled its defense budget over the last decade as it
looks beyond a traditional rivalry with Pakistan to counter
China’s rising power. Russian-Indian defense cooperation is at
an “unprecedented level,” then-President Dmitry Medvedev said
a year ago after Singh visited Moscow.

Russia, has dominated weapons sales to India. In the past
decade, 77 percent of India’s defense imports came from Russia,
while 2 percent came from the U.S., according to a June 2012
report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a
research institution in Washington.

Then-Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Oct. 10 that
Russia planned to sign a deal to ship 42 Sukhoi jets to India by
the year-end, the RIA Novosti news service reported. India has
already received about 150 Russian jets, according to the
Moscow-based Center for the Analysis of Strategies and
Technologies.

Nuclear Submarine

India also inducted a Russian-built nuclear-powered attack
submarine into its navy in April, while state-owned Rosatom
Corp. is helping the Asian nation build an atomic power plant.

India has been “Russia-oriented for a long time,” Barry Watts, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessments, a public policy group in Washington, said in a
telephone interview. New Delhi likes that Moscow is more willing
to share weapons technology, even if it’s not the most advanced,
Watts said.

Still, the U.S. dominates global arms sales, accounting for
$66.3 billion in 2011, according to an Aug. 24 report by the
Congressional Research Service. That was the highest single-year
total in the history of the country’s arms export program and
more than triple the $21.4 billion in deals from 2010, the
report showed.

The U.S., since 2001, has sold India about $8 billion of
military weapons and gear, including Lockheed’s C-130 and The
Boeing Co. (BA)’s C-17 cargo planes, according to a Nov. 13 CRS
report.

Apache, Chinook

India’s Defense Ministry last month selected 22 Apache
attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers made by
Boeing in an order valued at $2.4 billion.

India this year chose the Rafale fighter aircraft made by
Paris-based Dassault Aviation SA (AM) for an $11 billion, 126-plane
order instead of offerings that included Lockheed’s F-16 and
Boeing’s F-18.

Russian defense-industry exports have exceeded $14 billion
this year, higher than the government’s target, Putin said last
week. The country has signed new contracts worth $15 billion in
2012, he added.

Russia’s arms trade with India “will develop more
actively” after the visit, Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign-policy
aide, said Dec. 18 in an interview.